Café Ramban: Michelin star chef Assaf Granit's first ever kosher restaurant

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The Machneyuda Group has restaurants all over the world, including Assaf Granit’s Shabour in Paris, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2021.

By LINDA GRADSTEIN DECEMBER 7, 2024 19:36

Judging from the line trailing out the door at Café Ramban on Friday morning at 10 a.m., this is the place for breakfast on Fridays. It is also the first kosher restaurant of the famed Machneyuda Group, led by chefs Assaf Granit and Uri Navon.

The Machneyuda Group has restaurants all over the world, including Assaf Granit’s Shabour in Paris, which was awarded a Michelin star in 2021. If you’re a foodie and keep kosher, Café Ramban is your opportunity to try their cuisine.

This lovely café also serves as the breakfast restaurant for the new boutique Ramban hotel, which has 21 rooms. The breakfast is served both inside and outside on a long wrap-around porch. I invited my friend Steph, who is far more hip than I am, to join me for breakfast.

“I love this place – the design, the vibe, everything,” she said. “I also like the fact that the clientele is so diverse – religious, non-religious, young, [and] not so young.”

A fun and laid-back vibe

She is right that the vibe is fun and laid-back. It’s the kind of place where you can chat with the people at the table next to you as you wait for your coffee. On my left was Ziv, who is Assaf Granit’s hairdresser, eating with a group of friends; and on my right was stand-up comic Tal Rishon with his fiancée. That’s the kind of crowd you will rub elbows with if you go there.

CAFÉ RAMBAN. (credit: Stephanie Moncharsh Strauch)

“We are the new guys in Rehavia, and we want to respect our neighbors,” Uri Navon said. “We believe we can be a place in the neighborhood where people can come hang out and relax, take your shoes off [I assume he means that figuratively], and just have a drink or a full meal.”

The idea, he said, is classic café food, but done as well as possible.

“We want the café to be a place for the first coffee of the day, along with a pastry, or for a full breakfast. We didn’t invent something new – we just make the classics but try to do it as well as we can.”

They have clearly succeeded.

The full breakfast, called Morning in Rehavia, is NIS 248 for two, which is certainly not cheap but is less than other hotel breakfasts. Here it is not a buffet but includes a basket of bread and butter. The sourdough bread, from Russel’s bakery in Mahaneh Yehuda, is excellent, topped with a unique za’atar-flavored spread.

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There were cheeses from Meshek Ofaimme and an incredibly fresh vegetable salad that tasted as if it had just been picked from the garden minutes earlier.

The dips were unique – a skordalia, which is an almond spread; an excellent labaneh; and sweet pickled red peppers. They also brought us some “extras,” including gravlax (NIS 16) and ikra (NIS 26). A hot or cold drink was also included. The cold drink was freshly squeezed juice (orange, carrot, apple, or pomegranate), and the strong cappuccino was perfect.

We then chose a main dish from the menu that had some unique offerings. I had the eggs Benedict (NIS 62), which were two perfectly poached eggs on a brioche with Swiss chard and hollandaise sauce.

Steph went with the poached eggs in yogurt (NIS 59), which came with tomato salsa, clarified goat butter, fennel, and za’atar. They were unlike anything I had tried before. My only critique was that there was a lot of sauce, and we could have used more bread, which we’d already finished.

One of my neighbors ordered the French omelet (NIS 56), which included rocket, mustard, and a Parmesan vinaigrette.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, try the French toast (NIS 58), which is a slice of brioche with fruit in a vanilla sauce; or the cloud pancakes (NIS 46), which come with maple syrup, blueberries, and whipped cream.

If you’re not very hungry or are watching your shekels, you can also just order the main dish. But you only live once, so go for the breakfast deal and enjoy.

There is also a lunch and dinner menu, which I did not try. I’ll have to go back!